RISCARIO INSIDER

April 27, 2013

LIFE CHANGING EVENTS NO LONGER TRIGGER INSURANCE PURCHASES

A life changing event — the birth of a child or a marriage (perhaps not in that order) — is a time to evaluate your insurance coverage. You might need more to take care of your loved ones in case you can’t.

If you’re single and start working, you might get critical illness insurance or income replacement insurance.

That’s not happening.

Life CHANGING Events

Here are typical life changing events:

Starting to work
Getting married or divorced
Birth or adoption of a child
Buying a home
Losing a loved one
Starting a business
Planning for retirement
Retiring
Preserving your estate

Each event is a prod to re-evaluate your insurance, investments and financial plans.

Research Shows

Only 41% said a life changing event prompted them to shop for life insurance (all the statistics are from LIMRA and refer specifically to life insurance). Do the majority — the other 59% — think nothing will happen to them? That’s not a bet you want to lose.

What’s more

60% of new parents don’t shop or buy life insurance within two years
70% of newly married or newly divorced couples don’t shop or buy life insurance within two years

What’s Going Wrong?

People can’t be ignorant about the need for insurance. Maybe they think insurance is too expensive or don’t know where to turn for objective help. The advisors might not be contacting them (60% don’t remember being approached to buy life insurance in the last two years). Some were approached but 35% say the advisors didn’t follow up. How strange. Maybe the advisors thought the cases were too small to bother with?

Maybe the problem with the insurance industry? The financial sector ranks at the bottom in trust the latest Edelman Trust Barometer. That can’t help.

Possible Reasons

Maybe advisors aren't maintaining enough ongoing contact with their network to know of important changes in their lives. Well before I worked for Met Life, agents in New York City collected premiums weekly in person on foot. They were part of the community. They built relationships.
They knew what was happening.

In To Sell Is Human (my review), Dan Pink says that once buyers know they have a problem, the seller loses relevance. That's because buyers can often find solutions on their own. The Internet gives ready access to information. Finding problems becomes more important than solving them. Are advisors good at consistent meaningful contact?

Who Loses?

Life changing events affect our insurance needs. Unless we take time to see if we need to add, update or remove coverage. we may not have the amount of insurance we really need. Too many are not doing an evaluation. How about you?

Podcast 217

direct download | Internet Archive page | iTunes

PS What do you think is going wrong?

April 20, 2013

AVOID WINDOWS 8

Companies make money by enticing us to buy stuff that looks “new and improved” but really isn’t. Windows 8 falls into this category. Windows 7 still works very well. It’s quick. It’s stable. What’s missing?

Microsoft is hardly successful at innovation. Did you buy a Zune MP3 player, Windows tablet, Windows phone or switch to Bing (reached an all-time high of 16.5% market share in January compared with Google’s 67.0%). The world is moving online where Microsoft hasn’t made a penny since 2005. In Q1, Microsoft’s online operations lost $262 million. That’s considered an improvement.

In 2012, five of the top six mobile apps in the US came from Google. Where was Microsoft?

At the same time, Microsoft continues making lots of money because of the prevalence of Windows and Office. Times change and Microsoft tried to catch up with the launch of Windows 8. As usual, they created confusion with the various edition for different devices. Should you get Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro for your desktop. What is Windows RT and why can’t it run the programs you already have?

In Q1 2013, Windows 8 only reached 3.31% market share, despite promotions like a $15 upgrade offer (now over). Even the horrible Windows Vista has more market share (about 5%).

Forced Upgraded

I recently got a new notebook computer with Windows 8 and started detesting the operating system within hours. I don't mind change as long as change makes life simpler or better.

Windows 8 may be appealing if you have a computer with a touch screen. Many of today's high end computers still rely on a touchpad. Many users still use a mouse. Why force us to use an interface designed for touch? That’s unnecessary and annoying. This new interface called Metro slows work down.

Common features like the button to shut down your computer are now hidden away under settings. Shutting down your computer is an action its not a setting.

Stop

You can switch to desktop mode but the Start button is gone. This is progress?

Full Scream

Applications designed for Windows 8 take up the whole screen. Where are the windows?

There is rarely a reason to run Skype in full screen mode. There are many reasons to run Skype in a window while you're working on other windows. On a small screen like a tablet, having an application fill the whole screen is fine. On a computer designed for productivity, the restriction is silly. I have a full HD screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. I have no good reason to devote all that space to Skype or Weather or Messaging. What is Microsoft thinking?

Better But …

Overall, Windows 8 feels faster than Windows 7. Maybe this is because of the operating system or the newer hardware. The upgrade does not do anything important that I could not do before. The initial annoyances are gone. I’ve restored the Start button with Start8 ($5 from Stardock), which blends the old and new elegantly.

When companies tell you something is new and improved, be wary. You may not get the benefits promised. The time you spend learning how to use the new could be better spent mastering the old. You'll also save money.

The very same applies with financial products and services. You may not know what you're giving up. Maybe there is more fine print. Maybe prices are higher. Maybe guarantees are worse. Buyer beware.

Podcast 216

direct download | Internet Archive page | iTunes

PS When you get your next computer, Windows may not even matter much since we’re spending more time on our tablets and smartphones.